Castle: A crime of the imagination
by bri5298
Summary: The team finds a young man stabbed but this is not a regular stabbing. Along the way, they discover many details about the victim which gets Castle and Beckett into some trouble. How will they get out of it?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

It was a sunny morning in New York City. The Castle loft was peaceful since Martha was gone to one of her many spa retreats and Alexis was off to college. The only people in the loft this morning were Castle and Beckett. Today was great because they had the chance to sleep in. Kate was the first to wake; as she was the cop therefore was always on alert. She awoke to Rick looking peaceful as always. For a long while, she just stared at him, embracing his every quality. He looked so peaceful and perfect this morning. While she was staring, he started to wake up. She smiled as his eyes slowly started to open.

"Good morning Kate." He said staring at her natural beauty.

"Hey Rick! We slept in late didn't we?"

"Yes and I'd like to sleep a little longer. Probably could if you stopped staring at me." He says jokingly.

"Alright Rick, I'll give you 15 minutes because I'm going to make us breakfast."

With that, she left him with his extra resting time.

While she was cooking her pancakes. Reminding herself of the meaning of that breakfast according to Esposito, she let out a smile. Kate was thinking of her future. She was so excited for her future life with Rick and knew he was the perfect match for her. Smiling, Castle walked in confused as to what she was doing.

"I know I am roguishly handsome but you don't have to make it that obvious."

That comment took her out of her trance.

"Wait, what?"

She blushed at that answer and ignored the comment he had made. Trying to change the subject, she said:

"Do you want some pancakes?" He let out an adorable smile so she took it as a yes.

They ate together. Talking about everything and anything.

After finishing their breakfast, they got dressed, planning to go for a Sunday run. Rick did not enjoy yoga, which was Kate's best way to exercise so they would go for runs to keep in shape. They were stretching and getting ready to leave when they got a phone call from the precinct.

"Beckett… Ok be right there."

She hung up and said to Castle, "There has been a murder in the Park. Let's go!"

Frustrated, the writer changed again and they left within 20 minutes of the phone call.

As they arrived at the park, there were many police vehicles and people crowding around the yellow tape area. This always made Beckett mad because it was none of their business; they were just making everything more difficult.

Approaching the body, it was not a very pleasant site. There was a young handsome man laying on the floor with 3 stab wounds and a lot of blood. Wanting to get right into it, Kate said:

"So what do we got Lanie?"

"Young male with 3 stab wounds to the chest area. The loss of blood caused his death."

"Do we have a time of death?"

"According to liver temp, I'd say he died between 9:00 and 11:00 last night. I'll know more once I get him back to the morgue."

"Ok thanks Lanie."

Right after she was done with Lanie, Kate turned to Esposito for some extra information.

"So Espo, any info about our victim?"

He then replied, "According to his drivers license in his wallet, his name is Mario Pacheca and he is 25 years old. He works for a company called Byron Enterprise. They work to create better technologic equipment for different purposes."

"Alright, me and Castle will go to his company and you talk to his next of kin."

Kate ordered. Hearing what his boss had said, Ryan added:

"He doesn't have any. His mother died in a car crash years ago, he doesn't have any siblings and his father was lost at sea when Mario was 19."

"Alright, you guys go check out his phone records, credit card and anything that could be useful to know about this guy."

With that order, she left with Castle to go check out Byron enterprise.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Arriving at their destination, Beckett sees that the building is huge and looks very rich. She is now wondering what a 25 year old could be doing working in a place like this? He is way to young to have that kind of experience.

Before getting out of the car, Castle takes Kate's hand and says to her with a smile, "I love you Kate. You are the most extraordinary person I have ever met. I want you to remember that and, " He paused debating whether or not he should say this. "I want to see you smile."

He shouldn't have debated because as she heard those words, she smiled. He was so nice to her and always knew how to make her happy.

"I love you too babe. You're the best! Thanks for being there with me everywhere I go. "

"Always."

She smiled at his signature line and they got out of the car. They entered the building and met the manager of the company to find out more about what Mario was doing for them and if it was anything to kill for.

They walked into the building and found a woman who looked like she was giving commands for everyone. Beckett thought this girl would be an important person to ask questions about Mario so she went up to her and asked, "Hi. I'm detective Kate Beckett and this is Richard Castle. Could we ask you a few questions in private?"

"Hello! I'm Gina Mester and I am the boss here at Byron Enterprise. Nice to meet you detective. We can speak in my office. Right this way."

They walked into Gina's office and Beckett started her questioning.

"Alright Mrs. Mester, we are here because or Mario Pacheca. What did he do exactly for this company?"

"He still works here detective but he didn't show up today. I'm not quite sure why though. He is an IT man. He works with our computers and helps with any problems we are having. He also works on different programs to help with the efficiency of our company."

"Mrs. Mester I'm sorry to inform you of this but Mario is dead. He was murdered last night."

"Murdered? What? Who did it?"

Beckett answered quickly, "That's what we are trying to figure out! What exactly does your company do?"

The boss replied. "Well we take care of different computer designs and try to find better technologies for the modern life."

Castle stepped into the conversation, "Interesting! So are you building robots that can make me breakfast and type my book for me?"

Gina answered with a giggle: "Funny, but that is not quite what we do. Unfortunately for the interest of our inventions, we do not speak of what we do with anyone other than the employees."

Right then, Beckett stepped in, "I was wondering if I could speak to any of the other employees about Mario. Anyone in particular he had fights with?"

"No not really, but I can give you the names of people that would know more about him. Their names are Lola Lee, Sam Tasera and Buck Quarter. Mario didn't talk to many people so I wouldn't be surprised if they don't know much about him.

"Thank you very much Mrs. Mester. We will keep you in the loop if we find anything major." Said Kate.

Castle and Beckett were walking around this enormous office trying to find someone who could tell them stuff about the employees Mr. Pacheca talked to. They decided that the best person to ask would be the lady at the front desk.

Beckett went up to her and showed her the badge she held in her hand while saying: "Detective Kate Beckett NYPD we would like to ask you a few questions about 3 employees. Their names are Lola Lee, Sam Tasera and Buck Quarter. Where are they at the moment?"

The lady at the counter replied, "Well they are in a meeting right now according to the calendar. It will finish in about 5 minutes if you want to meet them there. What's this about?"

Castle answered her question by saying: "It's about Mario Pacheca, he worked here. He was murdered last night and we are trying to find out who did it."

"Oh that's not good. Well, the meeting is on the 15 th floor. Once you get up there, they will be in the room with the big metal door."

The writer and detective thanked the women and left.

On their way up to the 15 floor, both Rick and Kate were thinking about the front desk lady's reaction. They couldn't help but notice that she didn't seem too affected by Mario's death. Finally, Castle spoke up.

"Do you find it weird how she had almost no emotions about Mr. Pacheca's death?"

"Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking!" Replied Beckett.

"It's like we could be twins! No wonder we are so attracted to each other!"

"Do you think we are siblings?" She gave Castle a confused and grossed out look and he replied saying,

"Oh.. No… That's not what I meant. Us being brother and sister, after having done the things we have done would be disgusting. Ew."

With Castle's reply, Kate let out a small smile. She didn't want her writer to see it so she tried to bite her lip instead. They got up to the 15 th floor leaving the woman's reaction behind them. They would talk about that later.

They caught their employees leaving and noted mentally where each of their offices were before heading to the first persons office. It was Lola Lee's office. The detective knocked on the door before entering. The lady working in front of them was short, she had long black hair and she was Asian. Lola was wearing an Asian suit.

Beckett spoke first: "Hello Mrs. Lee. My name is Detective Kate Beckett and this is my partner Richard Castle. We are here to ask you a couple of questions about Mario Pacheca a former employee."

Lola then replied: "Oh yes Mario! Where is he? I haven't seen him all day. He usually never misses a day of work."

Castle answered her question, "He was stabbed to death last night in the park."

After hearing this, the employee looked stunned she did not speak for at least a minute.

After and long pause, Beckett spoke up. "Mrs. Lee, would you know of anyone who would want to do any harm to Mr. Pacheca? Anyone he was seeing? Girlfriend?"

"No he didn't have a girlfriend. I'm the assistant here so when there is any gossip to hear about, I am the first one to know about it. The only person he saw out of the office was his roommate Tim. Apparently they were really good friends but something happened recently. I don't know what but there was a situation."

Beckett was noting the name Tim Landly when she got a call from Ryan. She picked up while she and Castle excused themselves. Just before leaving, Rick told Lola she had a nice outfit and bowed to her with his hands together, which made Beckett roll her eyes.

On the phone Kate said, "Hey Ryan! Before you tell me about the phone records, I want you to go check out a Tim Landly. He was Mario's assistant and apparently there was a situation that occurred with the victim and him. We'll talk about the phone records later ok?"

With that the detective hung up and looked at the writer seriously. She said:

"How come you compliment her on her clothes but you never talk to me about my fashion choices?"

Rick was not sure how to answer that question seeing as it was so not like Beckett. He thought maybe she was feeling a little insecure about herself so he decides not to interject. He simply said:

"There are no words to describe how beautiful I think you are. But for the interest of human communication, your clothes are fantastic and I always look forward to the different outfit I will get the honour to see every day."

Those words meant a lot to Beckett. Being a cop was not very feminine so knowing she has something a little girly about her was nice. She blushed a little, forgot about the precinct relationship rule for 5 seconds as she gave a quick peck on Castles lips. They both smiled and walked towards the next employee's office. Mr. Sam Tasera. Castle started to conversation this time.

"Hello Mr. Tasera. My name is Richard Castle and this is the lovely detective Beckett." With his introduction, he earned a lovely eye roll mixed with death stare. She had told him many times to refer to her only as Beckett or detective when they were with anyone related to work. Adding the (lovely) was nice for her to hear but was not a good idea for the person they were asking the questions to.

"Hi! How may I help you two love birds?" Said Sam.

"I'm here about Mario Pacheca he was murdered last night. What do you do here for the company?" Asked Kate.

"I am another the IT guy. I manipulate data and help to create different inventions."

The interview continued on and you could tell that Richard was getting kind of bored. They were talking about the situation Mario had with his roommate when the writer decided it was a good idea to take a sombrero off Mr. Tasera's shelf and had put it on his head. This was not unusual for Richard who always found something entertaining. Unfortunately, the employee did not find it funny. He informed the overly imaginative man that it was a hat passed on from generation to generation and it was very fragile. The writer proceeded by put it back up on the shelf. The questioning finished and they left the office.

While leaving Beckett asked Castle a few questions.

"Why do you always have to touch stuff?"

"I don't know Beckett, I just wanted to see what it felt like to wear a real sombrero. It looks so cool in the movies!"

"Well babe, you need to learn to just stay put and occupy yourself differently when we ask people questions ok? If you really can't figure out something to do, just play on your phone and pretend to be concentrating ok? You can even try and beat my high score on candy crush. I'm not saying you'll succeed though."

Candy crush was one of the many things the couple competed against each other in.

"Ok, I got it. I'll just stare at you. I can always get distracted by looking at your gorgeousness and super hot body." He gave her a little wink hoping that she would take it as a joke but she simply gave him 'the look' and rolled her eyes.

They arrived at the final employees office. They started off by introducing themselves to Buck and then started off quickly with the questions.

The detective started with the most important question: "Do you know anything about what situation happened with Mario and his roommate Tim?"

"Oh yes, I heard that there had been some sort of argument between them. I'm not sure what it was about though. Maybe you should ask him?"

Castle was confused so he asked Buck a question himself. "Ask who?"

He answered, "You should ask Mario. It was him Tim was fighting with."

"Unfortunately we can't. Mario was killed last night." Said Kate.

"Pas vrai! Pas possible!" Said Buck as he stood up from his chair.

"So you don't know anyone who would want to do something like this or hurt him?" Questioned the detective.

"No I do not."

The interviewing continued for a long time as Beckett asked what he did for the company. Buck was the security man, which explained why he was so well built. Sadly, the writer became bored and wanted something to do. He decides to do what he enjoyed very much. Drive his wife, the beautiful detective, crazy. He started off by doing a little bit of discreet staring. She did not notice so he texted her.

_Hey pretty lady! You are so beautiful! Don't mind my staring, I am just trapped in the sighting of a galaxy of beauty! Can't wait till we get this questioning over with and put the pieces of the puzzle together at the precinct. This case seems like a real head scratcher. Do you think we can wrap this interview up soon? I'm getting a little bored over here but on the bright side, I haven't touched anything._

_Love ya. _

_Rick, xox_

The writer waited for the text to send. We he heard the familiar buzzing of Beckett's phone, he watched for her reaction as she read the text. He watched as she smiled at the compliment he had just given her and the enthusiasm he had to solve the case. After reading the entire message, she looked up from her phone and stared at her husband. She smiled at him and continued the questioning.

After finishing the last question, she turned to Richard and they started walking out of the office. As they were about to leave, Buck said one final thing:

"You guys are so cute together. It's so cool how you guys get to be in a relationship even though you work together. I wish this office had the same policy. See you later detective, and mister Castle."

They left the building and headed off to their car. Entering the car, they let loose the affection they had for each other. Castle grabbed his wife's hand and they started kissing. Full on make out session.

10 minutes later, they came out of their caskett time by a phone call from Ryan. They smoothed themselves out and answered.

"Beckett."

"Hey Beckett it's Ryan. I just finished talking to the roommate and he says the argument was just about Mario not bringing food home one night. He said they got everything straightened out and that everything was fine. Also, he has a rock solid alibi. He was working in a café. The manager and many customers remember seeing him."

"Really? The employees were acting like it was such a big deal. Whatever. Ok thanks Ryan. See you at the precinct."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

They arrived at the precinct a few minutes later and went straight to Kate's desk. She started to write on the murder board. As she finished adding the final details of the case, Castle came so see her holding a cappuccino. It had a heart design made with the cream and smelled so good. It was just what she needed at that moment.

They were talking about the case when they got a call from Lanie that said to come down right away.

Entering the morgue Lanie greeted them happily as usual.

"Hey cuties! How was you morning?" She said.

"It was pretty good. We didn't get much from we interviews though. The employees don't seem to know anything about our victim. Do you have any information about the body?" Asked Beckett.

"Girl do I have some interesting information for you. The first thing is, he was stabbed three times but the stabbings are different."

"Stabbings can't all be the same so why does that matter?" Asked Castle looking a little confused.

"Well I'm not sure, the stab wounds are so different. Like they were made by different heights or different times, areas or I don't know? You guys are the detectives so figure it out."

"No crazy theories Castle? The CIA didn't come in to throw us off by sending alien mixes to kill a 25 year old technology worker?" Teased the detective.

"Unfortunately I have nothing to explain this. Frankly I'm disappointed in myself. Where has all my imagination gone?"

"Oh I think you have enough imagination Castle. I'm not disappointed in you. You'll always be my crazy theorizing writer. I'll always love your creativity." Complimented Kate.

"Thanks Beckett. It makes me feel so much better about my shortage of inspiration." Giggled the writer.

"Oh you guys are so cute!" As Rick and Kate thanked the ME and started leaving she shouted one more thing. "Bye love birds!" With that comment, she earned a friendly eye roll from her best friend.

The got back to the precinct and it was pretty late. They put everything away and decided to walk home. Castle wanted some fresh air. His lack of inspiration seemed to have really affected him. Beckett wanted to spend some quality time with her husband and try to cheer him up.

The started walking out of the precinct hand in hand. They were off work so they were permitted to show some affection. As they were walking back Castle said something that did not surprise Kate. She was expecting it.

"Why can't I find a theory to explain this murder? " He seemed sad and hurt.

"Well Castle this one is confusing. I don't expect you to have a big theory about it because we don't have enough facts. Once we start getting our information together and question more people, we will have a better idea." Reassured Beckett.

"Alright thanks Kate. You really are the best. And…" Richard started to speak but stopped himself when he noticed someone walking who looked very similar to Mario. The victim did not have any next of kin so why was he seeing the resemblance? "Kate, turn around. This man looks just like Mario accept 30 years older."

Kate turned around and practically screamed. Were they hallucinating? The man looked about 55; he was walking like he was depressed and crying. The man could have been their victim's dad. Kate needed some answers so she went up to the man to ask some questions.

"Excuse me sir, I was wondering if you were by any chance related to Mr. Mario Pacheca?"

The man looked up. He looked like he was in so much emotional pain. He said: "Yes."

"Well who are you? My name is detective Kate Beckett and he is our murder victim. What was your relation with him?"

"I am his father."

It was Castle's turn to let out a scream when he heard this. "Are you back from the dead?"

"I really don't want to discuss this over here. Could we go somewhere more private?" Asked the victim's father.

"Yes, in fact, you can follow me to my precinct." Said the detective.

Arriving at the precinct, they put Mr. Pacheca in the break room. This wasn't an intense interview so they took it a little easy. The man had after all just lost his son. Beckett started the questioning.

"Alright lets start with something very simple. What is your name?"

"My name is Juan."

Beckett continued the questioning. "Ok, now something a little harder. Why aren't you dead?" She looked at him very seriously as if she was not impressed.

"I faked my death to get away from my old life."

"What was your old life?" Asked the writer.

"I was a big time drug dealer at the coast of Mexico and I was scared certain people I traded with would come after me." Was his reply.

"Alright. This doesn't make any sense. Do you have any idea what it does to a person to think a member of his of her family is dead?" Asked Beckett. She was very angry at him because she knew what it felt like to loose a parent.

Juan spoke softly "Well, I guess I will have to tell you two. I waited approximately 3 months before coming to see Mario. I knew he was tough enough to survive that time without me. I went to ask him if he could do me a favor."

Beckett was furious so she spoke up: "YOU PRETEND TO BE DEAD, SHOW UP 3 MONTHS LATER AND ASK FOR A FAVOUR? WHAT KIND OF CRUEL PERSON ARE YOU?" She calmed down a little and said, "My mother was murdered. I was devastated when I heard she was dead. Those three months were the worst in my life. If she came to me and asked for a favor, I would…" She started to get very frustrated.

Castle took Beckett's hand to try and calm her down. He rubbed little circles as he had done a long time ago with the dog. This action calmed Beckett down so Juan continued his story.

"When I had disappeared, I went to Venezuela to start a new technologic company and changed my name to stay away from my past. Back then, Mario did not have a job so to help with my company, I asked him to act as a spy in Byron Enterprise. Because of my past with drugs and all that stuff, I had no problems faking a resume to get him the job. In that business, you learn techniques to stay under the radar and create a new life."

Castle sucked in a breath as he heard this story. He then added: "Why didn't I think of this before! This is such an amazing story!"

"Castle, please calm down. Mr. Pacheca, you are saying that you asked you son to spy on another company for you?"

"Yes I did and I think that is what got him killed. Or, someone found out I was still alive and killed him to punish me. I am responsible for my sons death." The man looked devastated.

Beckett was shocked so she tried to clarify things with the facts: " So you are saying that you faked your death, started a company in Venezuela, came back here and asked your son to spy on a different company. You also think that either the company killed him or your old drug enemies."

"Yes that is what I am saying. "

"Just one last question, how did Mario learn all that stuff about computers when he had not gone to college or University?" Questioned Castle. He was so excited about this case.

"Mario is a very fast learner. All I had to do was give him a computer, give him a problem and ask him to figure it out. When he had tried for a bit, I would teach him different things the computer would do and he would learn. My son was a genius. And now he's gone because of me."

Castle and Beckett let the man go and started walking back home for the second time today. It was really late and they just wanted to get home. Beckett just put her notes on her desk without bothering to sort them out in her drawers. They stuck to their plan of walking home because they were just funny like that. Once they had decided on a plan, they always wanted to stick with it.

They arrived at the loft very late so they quickly changed and went to bed. It had been a long day.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The next morning, Beckett woke up at a decent time. They had gotten to bed at around 1:00 AM and she had woken up at 7:00. She wanted to get to the precinct as soon as possible to start investigating Byron Enterprise and the drug suspects. Both the motives were very probable. First, she needed to get ready and to do so, she needed her coffee. She dragged herself out of bed and went to make some for her and Rick. Kate wasn't as experienced with the designing of the cream therefore she simply pored some coffee in the mug and brought it to their room.

Her writer was fast asleep. He was so cute but she had to wake him up and start their day.

"Rick… Wake up. We need to go find Mario's killer." Rick let out a small sound as he started to open his eyes. As soon as he spotted the coffee, he put out his hand to grab the mug. She passed it to him and he took a big gulp.

They got ready slowly and ate a big breakfast. Their meal consisted of an omelet, toast, bacon and potatoes. To drink they had a smoothie and coffee, of course. When they were done eating they were so full that they had to sit down for a little while.

"Hey Castle," Beckett said, "what do you say we take a taxi into work this morning since both our cars are at the precinct?"

"No Beckett," Rick replied, "we are inside all day so this will give us some fresh air. We need it to stay healthy."

"Fine but I'm not really in the mood to walk right now so I'll call Ryan to see if he found anything suspicious about the credit cards and phone records."

"Good idea Kate. Working from home. I like it. Meanwhile, I can write a little. Haven't been doing a lot of working lately. I think I'm like 3 chapters behind. Oops!"

"Castle, really? Three chapters? How are you so behind?" Beckett asked giving him a confused look.

"Well there's kind of this beautiful woman in my life and I rather spend time with her than in front of my computer screen. You know what I mean?" Said Richard smiley and giving her an adorable wink.

She blushed and dialed Ryan's number. As she called, Castle went into his office to do a little writing. The detective picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Ryan! How are things going at the precinct?"

Ryan replied, "Hey! Yeah things are going well over here. Just missing you. Where are you anyway?"

"Well we decided to walk back last night so we don't have a car. Since we are going to walk back this morning, we filled up on breakfast and can hardly move. I decided maybe I should call you and hear what you have to say about the phone records and credit card. Any news?"

"Actually, there isn't much about his credit card. It says he would often take the subway. The weird thing is, one day he took a taxi. Why would a subway taker all of a sudden decide to go for a taxi run? Especially when it is the day he died."

"That's unusual. Get ahold of the taxi driver. I want to know where Mario was dropped off. Is that it with the credit card?"

"Yep! Other than the taxi ride, everything is normal about his card. For the phone records, he got many phone calls from a number that is registered to a burner phone."

"Did you check what company sold the phone?"

"Yeah a little shop in the city sold it. I'm pulling the security footage from the store right now. Looking at the time the phone was bought and the security cam footage, the person who bought it is some man who looks just like Mario accept like 30 years older. That's so weird."

Ryan seemed very confused on the phone so Beckett clarified everything out. She told Ryan that their victim's dad was alive and that he was asking Mario to spy on his company for him. She also told him that the father was a big drug dealer. Beckett told Ryan to check her desk for the information about Juan.

"So Beckett, when will you get to the precinct?" Ryan asked. A little teasing was in his voice.

"We'll be there in about 30 minutes. I'm feeling much better so I'll be leaving with Castle in the next 10 minutes." Kate replied.

"Mmm hmm…" Ryan said sarcastically.

"It's true. I'll be there in 30 minutes I promise! Maybe even less."

They both said bye to each other and hung up with a grin on their face.

Beckett entered Castle's office, went around his shoulders, massaged them a bit and pecked his lips softly. She then said:

"We have to go writer man. Duty at the precinct calls. I promised Ryan I would be there in 30 minutes and maybe less. I want to show him that I can keep this promise." She said with a little begging in her voice.

When he heard it was really important for her to get there in time, he got up wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her in for a long slow kiss. Once they let go of their kiss Richard said.

"Let's go detective. Don't want to be late for a promise." He said this with a little smile, took her hand and they walked out of the loft together.

They were about 10 minutes from the loft, hand in hand talking about random stuff when a white van pulled up beside them. Three masked people got out of the van and started walking towards the couple. Beckett didn't have time to pull out her gun before one of the attackers grabbed both her arms and placed her in an inescapable position.

While Beckett was being attacked, Castle was trying to fight them off. He was punching at anything and everything he could, trying to get to Beckett who was trapped by one of the people.

Soon, the writer was in the same position as the detective.

During the entire attack, Kate and Rick were screaming but there was no one beside them to hear. The attackers handcuffed the couple, put them in the van and drove away.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

In the van, one of the masked people were driving, the other in the passenger seat and one in the back with Kate and Rick. The attacker in the back seemed to be the biggest.

As they were in the back, Beckett's cop instinct kicked in. She started talking to the big guy.

"Why do you have us? I am a police officer. You don't want to responsible for this. I will get out of this and when I do all of you will be in jail for a long time."

All the monster person did was shake his head in disagreement. He proceeded to hit Kate in the face. Rick was definitely not okay with this so he started screaming and him.

"YOU MONSTER! NEVER HIT MY WIFE AGAIN UNLESS YOU WANT SOMETHING BAD TO HAPPEN! "

These words did not help at all. In fact, because of the insult, Rick received a punch in the face. Kate screamed when she saw what the person had done. Her and Rick kicked everywhere they could hitting the person in different areas. They were doing well until another person came to the back and set them straight. They got beaten up quite a bit and given a sedative to make them pass out. With the couple taken care of, the attackers could drive to their destination in peace.

_Meanwhile at the precinct…_

"Yo Ryan, where are Castle and Beckett?" Asked Esposito.

"I don't know bro. Beckett promised me they would get here in 30 minutes. It has been 40 minutes."

"Beckett never breaks her promises. I think something might be wrong." He gave Espo a concerned look and they both headed to their desks.

Ryan decided to track Beckett's phone.

He tracked her location and it was weird. It said she was travelling really fast in an opposite direction. Didn't Kate say she didn't have the car? Well Castle had his Ferrari. Actually no he didn't because Ryan had asked for it in exchange for something. Again. He knew something was wrong so he called his partner.

"Hey Javi! Get over here, something's weird." Said the Irish detective.

Esposito looked at the screen and noticed the same thing. When they were about to call her, they lost the phone's signal.

They knew something was wrong and that the killer was probably the one who had took them.

They alerted the entire precinct and went right into action.

Javier had the idea of looking at security cameras of where they possibly had been walking to find where they were abducted. The 2 detectives searched many streets until they found a camera with the right angle. They saw the whole thing happen. Unfortunately the attackers were wearing masks so it was very tough to find out who they were. Knowing where to find people was very difficult. Especially if you didn't have any suspects.

They were looking at the murder board when Ryan spotted notes on Kate desk. Ryan thought it was worth a shot to look through what she had found. Both him and his partner imagined it was about the current case so they went through everything they knew about it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_In an abandoned building owned by Byron Enterprise_

Kate woke up with a headache. Her face and her entire body felt bruised. Her badge, phone, gun and everything was gone accept her clothes. She remembered being kidnapped by 3 people and being beaten by them but she didn't know how she got here. _The drugs right! _She told herself. She was in a dark room with no windows and everything was concrete. She had lost a lot of hope of getting out but then she saw castle. He always knew how to cheer her up. She decided to wake him up and ask if he knew what was going on.

"Castle… Castle wake up. We need to find a way out of here."

Rick opened his eyes slowly and his face turned confused when he realized he didn't know where he was.

"Where are we and what is happening?" The writer asked looking scared and confused.

"I don't know Rick but we need to get out of here before our attackers come back."

They started looking for anything that could help them get out but there was absolutely nothing in the room. Kate started to panic.

"CASTLE WE CAN'T GET OUT OF HERE. WE WILL DIE IN HERE! What are we going to do?" She wiped a tear that had escaped her eye.

Rick couldn't stand seeing his wife like this. She looked beside herself and out of control. He wanted to take the pain she was feeling away.

He told her in a reassuring voice: "Remember what I said before? In situations like this, I feel it is important to have faith. We will be able to get out of this alive and we will catch the people who did this to us."

They were both sore from the beating but they stayed in each other's arms, not letting go. Beckett had calmed down and started to think of a plan.

"Alright, they must come back sometime, when they do, I will wait beside the door and try to knock him out. Hopefully only one of them will be there. Are you good with our plan?"

"Kate, what if he is too strong for you?"

"I…" Beckett paused rethinking her plan. "I just hope he wont be."

"No Beckett," He had a concerned look in his eyes "I won't let you take that chance. You are already weak from getting beat up and I hate seeing you hurt. It breaks me more then getting hit myself. Let me try and fight him."

"No Castle! I am the cop. You are the civilian so I need to protect you. I just really want to get out of here!"

When they were talking, there was a knock on the door. Beckett ran to the door even though Richard tried to stop her. He knew he couldn't stop her when she had her mind set so he waited as the door opened. When it did, no one came in. There was only a plate sliding in with some food. Beckett looked very confused. She went down, picked up the plate and brought it to where her husband was standing. There was rice on the plate. Lots of rice. They were confused but starving so they dug into the rice together.

"This rice is amazing!" Exclaimed Castle.

"Yes it's so good!"

They cleaned off everything on their plate and realized it was really late. The couple was lying on the ground trying to get comfortable. They were in each other's arms.

Beckett was very scared and shaking in the writers arm. He hugged her tighter and gave her kisses on the head trying to reassure her. Feeling the tight embrace of her husband, the detective began to calm down. She turned to face him and snuggled her head into his neck. She then told him.

"Thank you for being there for me Rick. We have been lucky before but how will we get out of this one?"

"Think about it Kate. Espo and Ryan are probably looking for us and they will find us soon. They are smart guys and they will get us out just like they always do."

"Thanks Rick. You always know how to make me feel better."

"Always."

They kissed each other. It was the only thing that felt good in this particular situation. They were too tired and ended up falling asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

_At the precinct the next morning…_

Ryan had not yet looked at the notes on Beckett's desk because of all the chaos so he and Espo went trough what they knew about and what they were reading together.

"Ok so we know Beckett interviewed 5 people. The boss, 3 employees and the father of the victim. Unfortunately, Beckett told me that the father had ties to the drug world so they could be suspects and Mario was a spy so the company would hate him as well. I think we should start with the drugs. Maybe get that done and then move to the company. Beckett noted the names of the drug people that would have wanted revenge. Let's get alibis from all of them. They need to be air tight."

Ryan and Esposito started making phone calls to find out where all of the drug related suspects were during the time of the murder and if they could be involved in the kidnapping.

Esposito and Ryan called everyone and they all had alibis but there was one of the men who hadn't answered their phone call. Not wanting to let anything go, both detectives decided it would be best to visit the last drug man. His name was Leo Dinero.

Both partners grabbed their stuff and left for Leo's address.

_In the abandoned building at 12:00 PM…_

"Castle, I'm hungry. We need a different plan to get out of here. I'm ready for something crazy. I'll consider anything."

"Alright I have an idea. Remember when we were trapped with that tiger and we wanted to get out? Let's do the same thing. Scream like little girls, and maybe our kidnappers will come see us or someone will hear us. If and when someone comes, we will act dead. When the person comes near us to see, we will fight him off."

"Alright, as I said earlier, I was ready for anything. Let's do this." Beckett said with enthusiasm.

With that idea, they both started screaming.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!

They screamed for a long time until they were too tired to keep going. A few moments after, the door started to move. They acted as if they were dead.

A big masked man came in and saw them so he went over to them. As soon as he was close enough, Kate and Rick kicked him in various places. He was so big that their efforts didn't do much. In fact, the only thing he did was take out a gun and point it at the detective. He said,

"You want me to kill your wife? If you want her alive, I would stop with the plans. Just give up. You will not get out of here." He gave a short giggle and left the room.

A few moments later, three people came in the room with guns. Their faces were still covered. Their guns were pointed to Castle and Beckett. They tied the detective and the writer's feet to the wall with chains. There was no way they were going to escape now and they knew it. All they could do was appreciate each other's embrace and wait to be saved.

_At Leo Dinero's house… 4:00 PM_

Ryan knocked on the door to Leo's house. A big Mexican looking man opened the door a few moments later. He said:

"How may I help you detectives?"

"How do you know we are detectives?" Asked Esposito a little confused.

"Are you kidding me? You guys are over confident and have this weak looking air to you."

"Excuse me? I am built like a beast. I'm former Special Forces. I am in great shape no way I look weak. You want to fight me?" Esposito said angrily.

"No. Bro stop it. You look manly don't worry. We are here because of a murder that took place two days ago. We were wondering where you were during the hours of 9:00 and 11:00 PM?"

"I don't know where I was and you won't either." Replied Leo. He followed by punching Ryan in the nose and trying to run past the detectives. He was almost across his yard when Esposito tackled him to the floor. Esposito was very proud of himself. He told Mr. Dinero.

"See, told you I was beast. I am not weak, and I just proved it to you. BAM!" He said with a smile and punched Leo in the face.

The partners put Leo on the back on their car and started to drive back to the precinct.

_Beckett and Castle's cell… 6:00 PM_

The couple was starving they hadn't eaten all day and were starting to feel weak.

"Kate, I'm not feeling well. I think I'm too hungry."

"I know Castle. I wish someone would bring us some food right now."

As the detective said these words, someone came in with another plate of food and placed it in front of them.

"Beckett I think we just discovered that you are psychic."

"Castle, just shut up and eat." Growled Kate with an eye roll.

They looked down at their plate. The plate was filled with six tacos. They looked delicious and well prepared. The couple dug into their plate. After one taco, Richard said:

"These are delicious!" He was smiling at her with a dirty taco filled face.

"I know eh? It tastes so good in my mouth!" She was staring at him in amazement. Beckett was so happy to be in here with her husband. She doesn't think she could have survived the experience without him. He always helps her stay positive.

When they were both done their meal and their stomach was somewhat satisfied, they laid down into each other's arms. They lay just talking about their wedding and the amazing night they had experienced. Occasionally, they would peck each other's lips to feel the comfort. They fell asleep after about an hour.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

_In the interrogation room at the 12 th precinct… 8:00 PM_

Ryan and Esposito are going to interrogate Leo Dinero. He tried to escape them so they think he might be involved with the murder. The two detectives hope that he will know about what happened to Beckett and Castle.

"So Leo, why did you run from us?" Asked detective Esposito.

"I thought I could get away. Where I'm from, when you see cops, running is the best option." Replied Mr. Dinero.

"Well in this case, running from us was the worst thing to do because now we think you are involved in the murder of Mario Pacheca. Now that you are handcuffed and can't get away, where were you two nights ago?" Said the Irish detective.

"I don't want to speak to you guys." Announced Leo.

Esposito was getting a little annoyed with him so he said: "Seeing as you are facing charges for assaulting police officers and probably murder, I suggest you speak now." Leo didn't move so Espo took it to another level.

"Listen to me jackass. The killer from yesterday kidnapped two of my best friends today so I'm not happy. Let me just tell you one thing before you decide to ignore my comment. I will do anything and I mean anything to get them back. I'm former Special Forces. I know a lot of the ways to get people to talk. Trust me, you don't want me to use any of those on you. Outside this precinct, I'm just a normal guy who can do whatever I want. If I don't get caught. SPEAK NOW."

Espo's speech seemed to have scared Leo a little so he started talking.

"Ok, I was making a deal with someone else."

"What kind of deal?" Asked Ryan.

"It was a very big drug deal." Replied Mr. Dinero.

"Can anyone verify that?" Demanded Javier.

"Yes. Just call this number and talk to everyone there. If you don't think you can believe what they say, ask them what I was wearing. It was a red tuxedo with a green tie. I was in a Christmassy mood." He said with a chuckle.

The detectives did not laugh. They were definitely not in the mood for any jokes. He handed them a card with a phone number on it. (856) 876-2516. They left Leo in the room while they went to check on the phone number.

Ryan called and asked every single person what Leo was wearing and each of them said he was wearing a red tuxedo with a green tie.

They still charged Leo with assault on police officers and many drug charges but they couldn't do anything for the rest of the night because it was so late. They decided to go home, get some rest and come back in the morning.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

_Beckett and Castle's cell… 7:00 AM_

They woke up very hungry, there stomach hurt and their heads were pounding. They had only eaten rice and tacos in two days therefore they felt very weak and had trouble staying conscious. Kate decided to speak first. She knew that you wouldn't die not eating for 2 days but she felt like she would.

"Castle… Are you awake?" She asked with a low tired voice.

" Yes I am. So hungry." He replied

"Me too. I just wanted to tell you that I love you and thank you for being there for me."

"Always."

"You are the best husband in the world." On this last sentence, the detective felt her body give up and she only saw darkness.

"Kate? Are you ok?" He noticed she wasn't moving or responding. He checked so see if she was breathing. His wife was taking in oxygen but she was still unconscious. The writer decided in this moment he would do anything for her. He was so scared for her health and safety that he started screaming as high as he could.

"HELP! HELP! PEOPLE HELP!" He was screaming so loud his throat was sore.

A little later, someone came in.

"What… what do you want?"

Castle recognized this voice from before but he didn't know from where.

"Please we are so hungry. My wife just passed out. Do you have any food for us?" Begged the writer.

"We have some food but it will be for the day so do you want it now?" Asked the masked person.

"Yes please. I want her to wake up." The concerned writer just wanted to see the detective's eyes open. He wanted her to wake up so they could figure out a way to get out of here.

"Alright," said the man. "I'll bring your food in soon." He left, shut and locked the door behind him.

A few moments later, the man returned with a plate of food. The food consisted of coffee and buttered baguettes. Castle was so thankful there was coffee because he was so tired and knew Beckett was as well.

Castle tried to wake Kate up by putting the beautiful smell of coffee in front of her nose. Slowly, her eyes started to open and she weekly said.

"Castle… Do I smell coffee?" Her eyes were only barely open. With a smile, Rick said to her.

"Yes you do indeed! In fact, why don't you sit up a little so that we can eat. I don't want you to pass out again. Here we have some coffee and buttered baguettes."

The detective took the food and ate it slowly. She did not have much energy to eat very fast.

Once they were finished, the writer spoke out loud.

"Maybe we haven't eaten much, but we sure have had delicious meals. Why would they give us such good things to eat? We are held hostage and we have had three amazing meals! Rice, tacos and now buttered baguettes? Why all these different meals and why are they together? Maybe the killer is a ghost and has visited many places around the world, and he picked his favorite meals?"

Beckett was a little annoyed at his speculating so she spat out what she had the energy to say.

"Castle, please… how could a ghost bring us food?"

"You're right, he couldn't. That would be funny though. A ghost in Mexico, wearing a sombrero! Haha." Castle giggled a little and quickly stopped. "Sombrero! Why didn't we think of this sooner! Rice is Asia, Tacos is Mexico and the buttered baguettes are France. It makes perfect sense! Beckett this is an international crime!"

Beckett was a little intrigued and asked Rick.

"What do you mean international crime?"

The writer replied very happily, "Think about it honey, the first lady we interviewed, Lola. She was wearing that Asian suit and the first day we ate some rice. The second person we interviewed, Sam. He is Mexican, remember when I tried on his sombrero in the office? And the third guy, Buck the security man replied to one of our question in French. That's it! They were leaving us little hints as to who they were along the way. They want us to figure it out but they think we will die in here, which is why they gave us the clues. There are three different murderers and three different stabbing marks."

"Castle, that is a crazy story and yet, I think I may agree with you. The IT probably got on to Mario's hacking and then he told the others who needed to keep the company working. They were that desperate for the job? If the information that Mario found got out, it would be a big problem for all three of them." Beckett took a deep breath and said, "Ok, we need to find a way to call Ryan and Esposito to tell them where we are."

"Wait… Where are we?" Castle asked seeming a little confused.

"Let's think about this for a little bit. All of them work at the same place and are from different parts of the world. Where could we be that would be convenient for all of them and would not be found by anyone?"

They sat in silence just thinking about this.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_Morning at the precinct…_

"Yo Ryan! I don't think this is drug related. Three of the employees at Byron Enterprise have not showed up for work these past few days. They all say they were sick."

"Well that can't be a coincidence. There is no way they have all been sick for the exact amount of time that Beckett and Castle were taken. Where could they have taken them then?" Ryan asked.

"Remember that taxi Mario took? The one we wanted to see where he had been dropped off? Well I think maybe that was their meeting place and maybe that will lead us to where they are. Check if the other employees have been to the same place as Mario. I found that he went to this abandoned warehouse owned by Byron Enterprise. " Espo said.

After doing a little research on the suspect's credit card records, Kevin said, "I found it. According to their phone records, they were at the same place on the same days. To top it off, Lola made a mistake and charged another taxi for the exact same amount yesterday."

With this, both detectives ran out of the precinct and into their car. They called Gates on the way and went as fast as they could to the abandoned building.

_In Byron Enterprise warehouse…_

Castle and Beckett had thought for a while about how to escape but had no luck finding a plan. All the walls were solid, the door was locked and they were too weak to think of anything else. Instead, they lay together on the floor just talking. Thinking that Esposito and Ryan were doing everything they could. What if it wasn't enough? What if it took them more days than expected and they starved to death?

"Castle… are you still awake?" Beckett whispered very weakly.

"Yes. I can hear you. Are we ever going to get out of here? There's no more food left to eat and we can't get out of here." Rick admitted very softly.

"Remember when we were in the cold refrigerator?" The detective did not wait for the answer and just kept on talking. "I did not have a lot of faith that we would be able to get out of there alive but we did. Contrarily to what I thought before, this time I think that we will be able to make it out alive. Espo and Ryan always find a way to find to us and we get out of the situation. The same thing will happen this time. They are great detectives and we can always count on them." She said with a smile. It wasn't very convincing but it brought a glimmer of hope to the writer.

"What if they don't? We need to save these last few moments together and never look back." Richard said with a single tear moving down his face.

Beckett could not stand seeing Castle sad like this. To console him, she placed a tender kiss on his lips. She waited for his reaction. He did not back away so she stayed against him.

After a few moments, the door to the room opened and there they stood. The three kidnappers. They were no longer wearing masks.

"We heard you guys figured everything out so there is no reason we should wear these uncomfortable things on our faces." Admitted Lola

"Wow the lovers really taking advantage of this alone time I can see." Said Buck.

"Well not for long because we are getting out of here. Lola the idiot used her credit card to get over here and now the police will probably come. You are so stupid." Replied Sam angrily.

"I forgot cash Sam. Stop blaming me and lets get these two out of here!" Yelled Lola.

The three criminals lifted Kate and Rick. They were about to leave the building when they ran into Ryan and Esposito. The detective and the writer were too weak to run away so Lola, Sam and Buck dropped them and ran off.

Noticing that the male detectives were not running to catch the kidnappers, Beckett said, "Go catch them! We'll be fine here! "

Giving Kate a little smile, Javi said "Don't worry Beckett, we got the police all around the building. There's no way that they will get away. Now lets get you guys home. It's been a long few days hasn't it?"

The couple could not stand. They had only eaten a little bit in three days so Ryan and Esposito had to bring them to the ambulance. The ambulance had some crackers inside so Kate and Rick that.

Once cleared by the hospital, they drove back to Castle's loft. Ryan had agreed that with all they had been through, Castle could have the Ferrari back. They ordered a lot of Chinese food and ate until they were too full to get off the couch.

After sleeping for three days in an abandoned building, the couch was pretty confortable and they fell asleep in each others arms laying together in their eating spot.


	11. Chapter 11-Ending

Chapter 11

_The next morning…_

Castle woke up before Kate. He laid on the couch just staring at her. He was so amazed at how brave she was. He wasn't surprised since she was a cop and she was Katherine Beckett. And of course, he was amazed at her hotness. He knew that his wife would be given the day off today but he was certain that she would want to be there during the murderers interrogation and that she would want to explain the international crime idea to everyone. (Even though it was his) He would give the storytelling to her. He writes stories for a living, what's the harm in letting his favorite detective the chance to tell an interesting one of her own? Especially when it includes him.

Knowing what his wife wanted, he woke her up with a soothing voice. "Hey Kate…" She made a tired growling noise. He kept talking. "Do you want to go to the precinct to see the interrogation of our kidnappers?"

With this question, Beckett opened her eyes and bounced off the couch. "Lets go Castle! I want to watch these people fry for what they did to us and Mario."

With this, they got ready and left for the precinct.

They arrived very quickly and got in right as the interrogation was about to start. They watched each of the people confess to the murder and the kidnapping. Each confession made Kate and Castle smile because justice had been served.

After everything was done and the only thing left was the paperwork. Kate and Rick decided it could wait until tomorrow and thought they should start heading back home.

They said their good byes to everyone and got into the elevator.

Once inside, Castle said, "Thank you Kate. For being extraordinary, and for being you."

"Always babe."

Just like that, another crime was solved by Caskett.

**Thank you so much for reading! I would love to read your comments!**


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